Jo Parfitt talks to Helen West, author of The Secrets of a Financial Adviser

I was contacted in September by Helen West who runs a very successful financial services company in the South West of England. For several years Helen has been going into schools and talking to students from about the age of sixteen about how to look after their money. She has told them about budgeting and how to make sure they have enough money for boring things like rent and bus tickets, rather than parties, video games and shoes.  Her workshops have been so well received that Helen decided to put what she was sharing with students so successfully into a no-nonsense handbook.

​You can find out more about her at Helen West www.secretsofafinancialadviser.com 
​but for now I invite you to read her recent interview with me and learn a little more of her publishing experience. Helen’s book came out in print and Kindle format in January 2013.

JP: Tell me about your book. What is it about? Can you describe it in just a few sentences?
HW: The Secrets of a Financial Advisor is about the understanding of money and finance. It is also a handbook to help you develop your future life journey with various exercises, thoughts and action points.

JP: Why did you write it?
HW: I wrote the book as I felt very challenged by my faith to do so.

JP: Why do you think your book needed to be written?
HW: So many of my clients have commented how I make a complicated subject easy to understand.  Having a young daughter who needs to understand the world of finance and money I felt called to write this book ‘while I was still on this planet’ in order to share it with Sarah and many, many more young people. Armed with this knowledge these young people will be able to leave education equipped with the tools they need in order to be able to deal with money and financial planning.  There was very little competition for my book in the UK.

JP: Who do you think will read your book? Or who would you like to read your book?
HW: I think my ‘A’ clients will read this book, as I have given them all a complimentary copy! I knew there was a market for this book after doing voluntary talks in local schools for the past five years.

JP: What steps have you taken or do you plan to take to promote your book? (For example: Are you a speaker or trainer? Do you have a blog? A website? A newsletter? Do you use Facebook, Twitter or other social media tools? What about press releases and sending out review copies and free articles? Have you had any other ideas?) Which methods do you think work best and can you give me any examples?

HW: I have engaged a professional journalist to interview me and send a news article to national and local press, also to local television and radio.  I have a websitewww.secretsofafinancialadviser.com I will be setting up a Facebook page, possibly Twitter.  I am considering sending a complimentary copy of this book to all my local schools too. I promoted the book at the Million Dollar Round Table UK Day in London in February. MDRT is a highly motivating organization to which many financial advisers worldwide belong. I am planning on doing various emails, further press releases and Facebook postings.

JP: How did you publish your book? Did you find an agent, a publisher or did you publish it yourself? Please describe your process and tell us how you found the experience. Is there anything you would definitely do again or never do again?
HW: The book was published by Summertime Publishing.  My experience of finding a publisher was horrendous.  I purchased the Writer’s Guide annual book and wrote to nearly 100 publishers.  Due to the introduction from David Scarlett I fortunately met Jo Parfitt who agreed to take me on and assisted me with the publishing of the book.

JP: What was your biggest challenge regarding the writing of your book? How have you overcome that?
HW: One of the challenges for me in writing the book was my lack of expertise in spelling and grammar, also the fact that I do not find mathematics an easy subject to deal with, particularly mental arithmetic. I overcame these challenges by employing experts.  I had a person guide me with the written text and used an accountant actuary and mortgage adviser to assist with the mathematical content.

JP: Now you have written this book, what has writing it done for you, your family, your self-esteem or your business?
HW: Now the book is written my family and work colleagues are relieved.  I would hope that this publication will be good PR for my financial services company, West Financial Management.